In the Burlington workroom that's home to Nail Pattern Boldness, a high-sheer dispersion mixer is blending the ingredients for a line of hand-made, hand-poured nail polishes.
As hobbies go, making your own nail polish may not be a top-of-mind choice for most people. But most people aren’t Allison Spiekermann. “I consider myself a creative person. I’ve sewn a lot, I’ve done costume-making, I got into making bras for awhile," Spiekermann says. "So, I’ve always been a research, figure-it-out, kind of do-it-yourself type person.”
I definitely had to read a lot and learn a lot about chemistry. You know, how chemicals interact and what solvents do, and flash points and all of that kind of stuff. -Allison Spiekermann
Spiekermann has a passion for glitter. And like all good inventions, her hand-made polishes were born of necessity. Ok, strong word. How about, desire? "I really wanted crazy glittery colors and I couldn’t find them for sale anywhere," says Spiekermann, who started her polish research two years ago. "And I got this idea in my head that I would try to figure out how to make my own.” The basic components in her polish recipes are a topcoat that she buys from a manufacturer, a suspension base and pigment. And then glitter. Lots and lots of superfine glitter.
Spiekermann says her background in statistics and computer programming made her comfortable with researching the technical aspects of making nail polish. "What I’ve learned is that the balance of the suspension base and the other ingredients in the polish really makes a huge difference in how well it applies," she says. "So the less suspension base you use, the easier it applies. But you also have to use enough to keep the glitter suspended. So a lot of my recipe formulation is trying to get that balance just right.”
Every day, packages of polish coming to the house and me wondering, 'how much polish can one person own? We filled up a room with glitters and polishes. - Max Spiekermann
Spiekermann’s workspace is filled with boxes of nail polish sold by recognizable companies. She sampled bottles upon bottles of polishes, and researched their patents for specific qualities. Her husband Max Spiekermann remembers watching the hobby quickly take over. “Every day, packages of polish coming to the house and me wondering, 'how much polish can one person own?'" recalls Max. "We filled up a room with glitters and polishes. And then she told me she was going to launch a business, which made me feel a lot better about it," he laughs. "It’s paying off, it’s paying off.”
The hand-made, hand-poured bottles of polish, top coats and base coats have become a side business. The couple sells their nail polishes to a few stores in Chittenden County. But their biggest customer base is on Etsy, where Nail Pattern Boldness sells 200 to 300 bottles a month. Going rate: $9 a bottle.
On the day I visit, they’re making a small batch of shimmery, iridescent polish with the quirky name “Bigger On The Inside.” The name is a nod to the TV show Doctor Who. Making nail polish seems to provide endless opportunities for Spiekermann to geek out on new ideas. "My most recent collection that’s coming out is magpie based, because magpies love things that are shiny and nail polish is shiny and glittery," says Allison Spiekermann. She enthuses about the trail of information the idea led her down. "I really did a lot of research into the folklore and history of magpies, and all these mystical aspects of magpies but also the hard-core sciency aspects of magpies, like how they mate.”
And while Allison Spiekermann’s combination of science and creativity drives product development, she says her husband’s organizational prowess and attention to detail keeps the business growing. Max Spiekermann holds a squeeze bottle of finished polish and expertly fills the small glass bottles with shimmering color. Cap them, smooth on a label and they’re ready to ship to customers.
